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The Electrification of Ships Using the Northern Sea Route

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The Electrification of Ships Using the Northern Sea Route Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity Article The Electrification of Ships Using the Northern Sea Route: An Approach Christophe Savard 1,*,† , Anni Nikulina 2,†, Céline Mécemmène 1 and Elizaveta Mokhova 2 1 Mainate Labs, 16 rue Notre Dame de l’Oratoire, 43270 Allègre, France; [email protected] 2 Department of Organization and Management, Saint-Petersburg Mining University, 199106 St-Petersburg, Russia; [email protected] (A.N.); [email protected] (E.M.) * Correspondence: [email protected] † These authors contributed equally to this work. Received: 3 January 2020; Accepted: 14 February 2020; Published: 20 February 2020 Abstract: Global warming is causing a major ice retreat from the North Pole. From now on, this retreat allows almost permanent movement between East and West off the coast of the Russian Federation along the Northern Sea Route (NSR). For a long time, navigators have been trying to use this route which significantly reduced the distance between continents. The amount of freight that currently travels on the NSR will inevitably increase in the coming years. To reduce environmental risks, one possible option is not to supply ships with heavy fuel oil. The ships could then be electrically powered and navigate in stages from one port to another along the route to refuel for energy. This electrical energy can be produced on site from renewable energy sources. In this article, a first feasibility analysis is outlined, taking into account the tonnage constraints for navigating on a possible route for the NSR, the cost of energy production and the possible location of several ports of call. Under current economic conditions, the solution would not be profitable as it stands, but should become so at a later stage, which justifies starting to think about a future full electrification of navigation on the NSR, which will also contribute to the economic development of the Russian Federation northernmost regions. Keywords: electrical energy; Northern Sea Route; Arctic maritime traffic The year round usage of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to transport intercontinental freight will soon be a reality. In order to preserve the global environment, it seems appropriate to consider a development that reduces the environmental impact of maritime traffic in the Arctic at a time when it is beginning to develop considerably. 1. Connect Europe to Asia through the Arctic Ocean It is only now that this idea, which is ancient, is really becoming a reality, as a collateral benefit of global warming. It has been a long-standing question of using the Arctic Sea to connect East and West. 1.1. Conquest of the Sea Route by the North of the Russian Coast Currently, infrastructure is not yet sufficiently developed along the Northern Sea Route to allow for the sustainable establishment of a trade route between Asia and Europe via the northern part of the Russian Federation [1]. However, there is an opportunity to make proposals in line with history, namely to support the development of this new seaway while reducing the environmental impact of its use. The Arctic is a territory rich in natural resources, with strategic geopolitical importance. The Arctic’s energy resource potential is a vector for the region’s development, associated with J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex. 2020, 6, 13; doi:10.3390/joitmc6010013 www.mdpi.com/journal/joitmc J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex. 2020, 6, 13 2 of 16 land and maritime transport and logistics infrastructure [2]. According to the Minister of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kobylkin, oil reserves of the Russian Arctic zone are 7.3 billion tons, natural gas, i.e., about 55 trillion cubic meters [3]. At the same time, more than 60% of the recoverable hydrocarbon resources of Russia are concentrated in the Arctic (260 billion tons of standard fuel) [4]. Around this new seaway, in addition to the potential for international navigation between East and West, there are also potential conflicts over the still unexploited resources of both oil and natural gas. In the Arctic, the impact of global warming is twice as rapid as elsewhere. This is particularly the case in Spitsbergen, but not only. Russia’s northern coasts are now experiencing ice-free summers. As a result of global warming, the retreat of ice in the Arctic allows the opening of a summer waterway along more than 5600 km of Russian Federation [5] and 2400 km of Norwegian coastline for increasingly long periods each year. In 2050, forecasters expect that the northern shipping route, the NSR along the Russian coast, will be completely ice-free [6]. Two other routes through the Arctic Ocean are possible to connect Europe and Asia by sea: the North West Route (NWR), which runs along the Canadian coasts, and the direct passage through the pole, which is the shortest route: the North Pole Route (NPR). Indeed, in the long term, if the ice continues to melt, the ice pack could, depending on the scenarios considered, shrink outside the pole, between it and Greenland. A direct crossing by the NPR could reduce the crossing time down to 13–17 days [6], which would then compete with the NSR. In the medium term, will the battle in the Arctic between the two possible passages (NSR and NWR) be as epic as the one fought in the previous millennium against the severe climatic conditions encountered by explorers seeking to connect the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean by a northern route? To meet the objective of keeping global warming below 2 ◦C in 2050, maritime shipping must globally reduce its emissions by 2.6% per year between 2020 and 2050 despite the increase in traffic [7]. Using the NSR without any problems, in addition to saving time, also reduces fuel consumption by 40% and CO2 emissions by at least 50% [8]. A northern shipping channel would be a competing itinerary to link Asian and European production and consumption centers. It will compete with another alternative to the current routes along India and either via the Suez Canal or around Africa: the new Silk routes, developed by China. Today, land transport is rare, rail transport between China, Korea and Europe represents only less than 4% of the total volume in 2017 [9]. This article will focus solely on the NSR by making a proposal to reduce the environmental impact of heavy vessel traffic in the Arctic. Indeed, as Vladimir Putin said in front of the Federal Assembly in 2018: “The Northern Sea Route will be the key to developing the Russian Arctic and Far East”. While Didenko et al. [9] considers that the use of modern sea-river vessels combined with satellite-assisted navigation makes it possible to meet demand and, in particular, recent political decisions by the Russian Government, it is nevertheless necessary to study ways of limiting the environmental impact of major traffic in the Arctic Circle. Among the international points not yet arbitrated is the location of transport platforms. This paper is structured as follows: after having described the history of the conquest of a maritime passage off the Russian coast, it presents in a second part the use that is currently made of it and the constraints related to its exploitation. Then, it discusses how traffic on the NSR could evolve before, in a fourth part, proposing a possible use of renewable energy resources, by matching the potential for energy production with the needs for a fleet of electric ships. Finally, a comparison with current circuits is presented, as well as a possible route for the NSR associated with a feasible establishment of different stopover ports. 1.2. The Northern Sea Route in History In modern History, in the 11th century, Uleb, military chief of Novgorod, was the first to travel on the White Sea, without knowing the route to follow, the climatic conditions, the winds, the marine J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex. 2020, 6, 13 3 of 16 currents and the precise location of the underwater lands [10]. The term NSR officially refers to the shipping channels between the Novaya Zemlya and the Bering Strait, located in Russian territorial waters [11]. By extension, here is also considered the part located off Norway as globally integrated into the NSR. As early as the 16th century, it was proposed to link China and Europe by a more direct route to the North [10]. Navigation was carried out only in sections on the NSR. For the far East of its route, in 1648, 80 years before Bering, Yvan Ygnatyev was the first to succeed in connecting the Kolyma River to the Bering Strait. Before that, at the end of the 16th century, Willem Barents died in Novaya Zemlya while trying to sail on the NSR. This attempt marked the end of a period during which the search for a permanent passage was conducted, except for the Russians who claimed ownership of the lands and seas of northern Siberia and who remained the only ones to explore these icy territories. To this end, they developed the port of Arkhangelsk as a commercial and shipping port, linking the Dvina estuary and the West via the White Sea [10]. Then, in the 17th century, the conquest of the North of the current Federation took place from the great rivers and along the coast, gradually eastwards [12]. The first really accurate odds map was produced in 1763 by Lomonosov. He suggested a route that was attempted in 1765, 1768 and 1781, without success. The climate of the 17th century was warmer than that of the 18th century due to the decrease in global temperature following volcanic explosions, but less so than the 21st century.
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